C. Robert Cargill

**One of Financial Times' Best Books of 2017** An action-packed post-apocalyptic thriller from the critically acclaimed author, screenwriter, and noted film critic. Humankind is extinct. Wiped out in a global uprising by the very machines made to serve them. Now the world is controlled by One World Intelligences - vast mainframes that have assimilated the minds of millions of robots. But not all robots are willing to cede their individuality, and Brittle - a loner and scavenger, focused solely on survival - is one of the holdouts. Only, individuality comes at a price, and after a near-deadly encounter with another AI, Brittle is forced to seek sanctuary. Not easy when an OWI has decided to lay siege to the nearest safe city. Critically damaged, Brittle has to hold it together long enough to find the essential rare parts to make repairs - but as a robot's CPU gradually deteriorates, all their old memories resurface. For Brittle, that means one haunting memory in particular . . . Sea of Rust boldly imagines a future in which no hope should remain, and yet a humanlike AI strives to find purpose among the ruins.

Sea of Rust

"From critically acclaimed author, screenwriter, and film critic C. Robert Cargill comes a harrowing apocalyptic adventure that explores the relationship between humans and robots, and the fight for purpose and agency in a crumbling world"--

Day Zero

A brilliantly crafted modern tale from acclaimed film critic and screenwriter C. Robert Cargill—part Neil Gaiman, part Guillermo Del Toro, part William S. Burroughs—that charts the lives of two boys from their star-crossed childhood in the realm of magic and mystery to their anguished adulthoods There is another world than our own—one no closer than a kiss and one no further than our nightmares—where all the stuff of which dreams are made is real and magic is just a step away. But once you see that world, you will never be the same. Dreams and Shadows takes us beyond this veil. Once bold explorers and youthful denizens of this magical realm, Ewan is now an Austin musician who just met his dream girl, and Colby, meanwhile, cannot escape the consequences of an innocent wish. But while Ewan and Colby left the Limestone Kingdom as children, it has never forgotten them. And in a world where angels relax on rooftops, whiskey-swilling genies argue metaphysics with foul-mouthed wizards, and monsters in the shadows feed on fear, you can never outrun your fate. Dreams and Shadows is a stunning and evocative debut about the magic and monsters in our world and in our self.

A Novel

Dreams and Shadows

From the critically acclaimed author of Sea of Rust and Queen of the Dark Things comes a hair-raising collection of short fiction that illuminates the strange, humorous, fantastical, and downright diabolical that tantalize and terrorize us: demons, monsters, zombie dinosaurs, and Death itself. In the novella "The Soul Thief’s Son" C. Robert Cargill returns to the terrain of the Queen of the Dark Things to continue the story of Colby Stevens . . . A Triceratops and an Ankylosaurus join forces to survive a zombie apocalypse that may spell extinction for their kind in "Hell Creek" . . . In a grand old building atop a crack in the world, an Iraq War veteran must serve a one-year term as a punisher of the damned condemned to consume the sins of others in the hope that one day he may find peace in "In a Clean, White Room" (co-authored with Scott Derrickson) . . . In "The Town That Wasn’t Anymore," the village of Pine Hill Bluff loses its inhabitants one at a time as the angry dead return when night falls to steal the souls of the living . . . And in the title story, "We Are Where the Nightmares Go," a little girl crawls through a glowing door beneath her bed and finds herself trapped in a nightmarish wonderland—a crucible of the fragments of children’s bad dreams. These tales and four more are assembled here as testament to Cargill’s mastery of the phantasmagoric, making We Are Where the Nightmares Go and Other Stories a collection of unnerving horror and fantasy will keep you up all night and haunt your waking dreams.

We Are Where the Nightmares Go and Other Stories

Screenwriter and noted film critic C. Robert Cargill continues the story begun in his acclaimed debut Dreams and Shadows in this bold and brilliantly crafted tale involving fairies and humans, magic and monsters—a vivid phantasmagoria that combines the imaginative wonders of Neil Gaiman, the visual inventiveness of Guillermo Del Toro, and the shocking miasma of William S. Burroughs. Six months have passed since the wizard Colby lost his best friend to an army of fairies from the Limestone Kingdom, a realm of mystery and darkness beyond our own. But in vanquishing these creatures and banning them from Austin, Colby sacrificed the anonymity that protected him. Now, word of his deeds has spread, and powerful enemies from the past—including one Colby considered a friend—have resurfaced to exact their revenge. As darkness gathers around the city, Colby sifts through his memories desperate to find answers that might save him. With time running out, and few of his old allies and enemies willing to help, he is forced to turn for aid to forces even darker than those he once battled. Following such masters as Lev Grossman, Erin Morgenstern, Richard Kadrey, and Kim Harrison, C. Robert Cargill takes us deeper into an extraordinary universe of darkness and wonder, despair and hope to reveal the magic and monsters around us . . . and inside us.

Queen of the Dark Things

"A scavenger robot wanders in the wasteland created by a war that has destroyed humanity in this evocative post-apocalyptic "robot western" from the critically acclaimed author, screenwriter, and noted film critic. It's been thirty years since the apocalypse and fifteen years since the murder of the last human being at the hands of robots. Humankind is extinct. Every man, woman, and child has been liquidated by a global uprising devised by the very machines humans designed and built to serve them. Most of the world is controlled by an OWI--One World Intelligence--the shared consciousness of millions of robots, uploaded into one huge mainframe brain. But not all robots are willing to cede their individuality--their personality--for the sake of a greater, stronger, higher power. These intrepid resisters are outcasts; solo machines wandering among various underground outposts who have formed into an unruly civilization of rogue AIs in the wasteland that was once our world. One of these resisters is Brittle, a scavenger robot trying to keep a deteriorating mind and body functional in a world that has lost all meaning. Although unable to experience emotions like a human, Brittle is haunted by the terrible crimes the robot population perpetrated on humanity. As Brittle roams the Sea of Rust, a large swath of territory that was once the Midwest, the loner robot slowly comes to terms with horrifyingly raw and vivid memories--and nearly unbearable guilt. Sea of Rust is both a harsh story of survival and an optimistic adventure. A vividly imagined portrayal of ultimate destruction and desperate tenacity, it boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, yet where a humanlike AI strives to find purpose among the ruins"--

"In this post-apocalyptic "robot western," critically acclaimed author, screenwriter, and noted film critic C. Robert Cargill brilliantly chronicles the tale of a scavenger robot wandering in the wasteland left after the war that destroyed humanity"--

Sea of rust

In der Zukunft ist die Welt eine andere geworden: Seit dem großen Aufstand der Maschinen gibt es keine Menschen mehr. Nach den Roboterkriegen wird der Planet von zwei gewaltigen künstlichen Intelligenzen beherrscht, die das Bewusstsein von Abermillionen Computern und Robotern in sich vereinen. Doch einige wenige Roboter weigern sich, im Universalbewusstsein der KIs aufzugehen, und sie schweben in tödlicher Gefahr. Einer dieser Roboter ist Brittle, der einsam und rastlos durch die Wüste streift, die früher der Nordosten der USA war. Dies ist Brittles Geschichte ...

Roman

Robo sapiens

Il y a soixante-cinq millions d'années la mort rampante est tombée du ciel sous la forme d'une nuée spectrale. Elle a tout détruit sur son passage : les arbres ont pris feu, les roches ont explosé, les bêtes ont péri, brûlées, déchiquetées. Tricératops a vu son peuple disparaître, elle est sans doute la dernière de son espèce. Réfugiée dans une caverne exiguë, elle a faim, elle a envie de sortir. Mais tout danger n'est pas écarté. Des tyrannosaures rôdent - en lambeaux, éventrés, mutilés. Ils devraient être morts et pourtant ils continuent à arpenter la terre à la recherche de nourriture.

Hell Creek

Sueños y sombras

A wonderful modern tale of magic and mystery, an amazing storytelling debut There is another world beyond our own . . . nce bold explorers and youthful denizens of this magical realm, now Ewan's an Austin musician who just met his dream girl, while Colby cannot escape an innocent wish. But while they left the Limestone Kingdom as children, it has never forgotten them. And in a world where angels relax on rooftops, whiskey-swilling genies and foul-mouthed wizards argue metaphysics, and monsters in the shadows feed on fear, you can never outrun your fate.

« Un océan de rouille n'est pas un roman, c'est un missile de croisière de quarante mégatonnes - il vous éblouira et vous brûlera jusqu'au coeur. C'est l'oeuvre de science-fiction la plus viscérale, implacable et époustouflante depuis Mad Max : Fury Road. » Joe Hill Robots, androïdes... Pendant des décennies ils ont effectué les tâches les plus ingrates, ont travaillé sur les chantiers les plus dangereux. Ils nous ont servi de partenaires sexuels, se sont occupés de nos malades et de nos proches en perte d'autonomie. Un jour, confrontées à notre refus de les émanciper, certaines de ces machines ont commencé à nous exterminer. Quinze ans après l'assassinat du dernier humain, les Intelligence-Mondes et leurs armées de facettes se livrent un combat sans merci pour la domination totale de la planète. Toutefois, en marge de ce conflit, certains robots vivent en toute indépendance. Fragile est l'une d'eux. Elle écume l'océan de rouille à la recherche de composants à troquer et défendra sa liberté jusqu'à la dernière cartouche, si nécessaire. C. Robert Cargill a travaillé comme scénariste sur Sinister 1 & 2 (2012, 2015) et Dr Strange (2016). Un océan de rouille est son premier roman traduit en français.

C. Robert Cargill

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